“Then we’ll leave it to you. Let us know how your work takes.”
Jo barely heard Eslar’s final words; she was already almost out of the kitchen. She had almost made it halfway down the hall when she heard the footsteps and decided to make a brief game of it.
Who would it be?Not Snow, Snow wouldn’t ever scamper like that. Takako? Maybe. But she trusted the woman to have enough sense not to be seen together so soon. Eslar or Samson? No and no. And certainly not Pan.
“What is it, Wayne?” Jo turned, affirming her suspicions. The look of concern on Wayne’s face brought her up short. She was expecting to be chastised for “arousing suspicion,” but she was not expectingconcern.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one else was on their way.
“Was Pan right?”
“Yeah,” Jo didn’t see the point of denial. “But I don’t know how.”
Wayne frowned. “There’s something off, here.” The man was at a loss, running a hand over his hair and then doing it immediately again. “Did you tell Takako—”
“Everything is going to be fine.” Jo grabbed his hands, trying to hastily reassure him and likely overcompensating by a wide margin in the process. “She’s on our side.”
For a long moment, Wayne just stared at her in silence. Then, with a soft curse, he let his head fall and shoulders droop, running a shaking hand through his slicked back hair in obvious exasperation. “This feels like it’s going too far. And Pan—she’s a wild card in a way I wasn’t entirely expecting. . . I don’t know, Jo.”
“We’re in control of the situation,” Jo interjected fiercely. “Once I get more information, I’m going to confront Snow. He’ll listen to me and I’ll find out whatever he’s been hiding.”
Wayne just sighed. “I admire the confidence, doll, but we’re on the razor’s edge.” Then, after a brief pause, he added, “I don’t want another—”
Jo’s pulse skyrocketed in fear of a never-ending cycle of death. She reacted before she could even give it another iota of thought.
“There won’t be another Nico,” she said, ignoring the slight tremor in her voice and repeating herself more sternly. “I got this. I’m still working on the wish. Even if I can’t end the Society now, I’ll help with the wish to make sure we don’t lose anyone else.”
This time, when Wayne held her gaze in concerned attention, his eyes softened, sad.
“Promise me you won’t tell them,” she tried again. “We’re in too deep, now. . . Just promise me you’ll keep quiet about it, alright? At least for now? Give me a little more time?”
“Jo . . .” Wayne sighed, tone wrapping sadly around her name.
“Maybe my power can break us free,” she confessed in a hushed whisper, hoping no one heard but them. “But I don’t know how to wield it effectively yet. So, for now, just promise me we’ll stay the course? Trust in me?”
A long beat of heavy silence, and then Wayne straightened, returning his nickel to his pocket. For a second it was as if he was about to reach out to her, but in the end thought better of it. Instead, he just ran his hand through his hair again, not quite looking at her anymore.
“Fine, dollface. You have my word.”
Jo hastily put her coffee down on a nearby table and pulled him in for a fierce hug. Determining the matter finished, she headed back toward the recreation room, trying to put her mind on the wish once more.
But every attempt she made set her thoughts to wandering. Pan had been right—Pan had known.How?
“I’m so stupid,” Jo whispered, stopping in her tracks so suddenly that she nearly spilled coffee all over herself.
Pan had known back from the first wish what she’d been doing in the recreation room. What else in the Society did she know? Was there anywhere that was safe, or were they all just unwitting puppets in the hands of the master?
Chapter 14
You Again
She wished she wasn’t alone and yet, at the same time, was glad no one else was there to see her off.
Jo squared off against the Door. Had the lights always been so dim? Her eyes drifted upward, squinting to try to find exactly what the light source was for the room. When she looked at the single orb overhead (Magic? Electricity? Something else entirely?), it seemed blinding. But when her eyes fell back to the room itself, shadows clung to the corners, feeding off the red-blue dot the light had burned into her eyes.
She held out her hand, uncurling her fingers. She’d been clutching the USB stick so tightly, it had made indents into her palm. Really, it was a miracle she hadn’t broken the—
